Greg Loux wrote:
> On Jan 29, 11:23�am, "Seven Inch Dilly" <no_...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> "Geff Crawford" wrote
>>
>>> Is guitar backup just the slightest bit behind the beat in a dance
tune
>>> with a fiddle lead? �Here's why I ask: A few times I've overdubbed
over my
>>> own fiddle part with a guitar backup on a multi-track recorder. �It
feels
>>> sort of artificial, compared with playing simultaneously with another
live
>>> person in a jam, or when recording live with someone else. My
perception
>>> is that I've noticed that if the guitar isn't just slightly behind the
>>> fiddle, it makes the fiddle sound uncertain, or not swingy, or somehow
out
>>> of sync. �It's all very slight, so it could just be my ear or sense
of
>>> rhythm. �I'd be curious if anyone else has this same perception.
>> Turning this on its head, if the fiddle doesn't stay out in front of
the
>> backup, it will not only "...sound uncertain, or not swingy, or somehow
out
>> of sync..." but it will likely drag the tempo down in a live session as
the
>> backup "adjusts". Good backup, whether it is banjo, guitar or (gasp)
bass,
>> is less about the placement of notes in each measure and more about
>> resisting this general tendency to drag by holding up the tempo, or
"being
>> the wave".
>>
>> Even a great fiddler with rock solid bowing can't fight mediocre
backup. But
>> solid backup can make a less accomplished fiddler sound much better.
Great
>> music happens when everyone is in the same groove. I've been in many
>> informal sessions where the fiddle(s) start tunes at some tempo and
before
>> the end it is down at least 25% (e.g. from ~125 bpm to ~100 bpm). This
is
>> not because the fiddler can't keep up. S/he picked the tempo with
potatoes,
>> after all, and their next tune starts snappy again. It is inevitably
because
>> the backup (guitar/banjo/bass) allows the tempo to drag. Thinking
"behind
>> the beat" aggravates the problem since there is no click track in a
live
>> session.
>
> John writes:
>
>>> Frankly, I rarely think about it directly, and when I do, it just
>>> confuses me! I just play from instinct.
>
> Likewise...I can't/don't think like that.
>
> Bill writes:
>
>> S/he picked the tempo with potatoes,
>> after all, and their next tune starts snappy again. It is inevitably
because
>> the backup (guitar/banjo/bass) allows the tempo to drag.
>
> I hate when that happens. The goal is the same groove all around.
>
> -Greg
To be honest, I just pray I'm playing with an alpha-fiddler who taps
his/her foot!
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